Telefon Tel Aviv have mastered the art of balancing the bittersweet romance and occasionally excessive melancholy of so many '80s electro-pop pearls, dusting off their retro sleeves and presenting them in the form of lavish, melodic epics. The new EP features the intoxicatingly beautiful album opener "The Birds" in its original version and in two remixes that could hardly be more contrasting from Ellen Allien and Matthew Dear. None other than Cocteau Twins co-founder Robin Guthrie makes an appearance on "The Sky Is Black."

Telefon Tel Aviv celebrated an amazing debut on BPitch Control with their album "Immolate Yourself" (BPC 188CD), combining individual sound aesthetics with pop influences. The first of the single remixes of "You Are The Worst Thing In The World" is from Jay Haze, who forms the track into an uncompromising peak-time monster. Gaiser's remix revs up the original with his typical sound structures. Extra bonus track "Your Mouth" rounds it all off, making this record a clear musical statement.

Joshua Eustis aka Telefon Tel Aviv presents the second single from Immolate Yourself. Thomas Muller reduces the lush arrangement of the original, leaving out the vocals almost entirely, and creating a surprise when the track crumbles into sonic chaos. Miss Fitz aka Maayan Nidam throws all the opulence of the original overboard, and a dry beat is enriched with sinuous vocals. Ben Klock's remix is stripped back to a resounding, hammer-like beat framework -- minimized for maximum effect.

Previously released on CD by BPitch Control, now released on vinyl. This is the third full-length album by Chicago's Telefon Tel Aviv (Joshua Eustis and Charles Cooper), and their first for BPitch Control. Immolate Yourself unites ten tracks with the aim to give the term "electro-pop" a new definition for the year 2009. Although each track has its own story to tell, together they paint a bigger picture that encapsulates the Telefon Tel Aviv sound. Arguably the album's standout track "Helen of Troy" -- a driving, moody and muddled piece, full of '80s aesthetics, vintage synths and low, romantic vocals -- was in fact the last track to be finished, and in a way, marked the climax and formed the basis of the whole work. With this release, Telefon Tel Aviv make a statement that combines popular dance music with their own darker reflections on the electronic sound universe.

This is the third full-length album by Chicago's Telefon Tel Aviv (Joshua Eustis and Charles Cooper), and their first for BPitch Control. Both are great musicians with a sense for the right sound, who have already proven their talent successfully on two previous albums. Immolate Yourself is the result and continuation of a development in their music that was initially started with their previous works on Hefty Records Fahrenheit Fair Enough (2001) and Map of Effortless (2004). The band approach their newer, longer, more intimate synth-pop direction this way: "The record is still entirely Telefon Tel Aviv, but throughout there is a cross-processed filter that makes everything saturated, grainy, distorted, dusty and distressed." Immolate Yourself unites ten tracks with the aim to give the term "electro-pop" a new definition for the year 2009. Although each track has its own story to tell, together they paint a bigger picture that encapsulates the Telefon Tel Aviv sound. Arguably the album's standout track "Helen of Troy" -- a driving, moody and muddled piece, full of '80s aesthetics, vintage synths and low, romantic vocals -- was in fact the last track to be finished and in a way marked the climax and formed the basis of the whole work. With this release, Telefon Tel Aviv make a statement that combines popular dance music with their own darker reflections on the electronic sound universe